In 2013 and 2014, there were over 50 major spills of radioactive fluids – including numerous spills of over 10,000 gallons– from Wyoming’s in situ uranium mining facilities. In-situ uranium mining involves pumping chemicals underground into an aquifer to release uranium into a solution that is pumped to the surface. Despite the constant stream of spills at yellowcake facilities, enforcement is lax, leaving water, wildlife, and people without adequate protection. Even when environmental protection standards are enforced, the consequences are paltry as small fines are insufficient to deter the ongoing flow of spills and violations.
Most recently, Uranerz Energy Corporation has agreed to pay a $5,000 state penalty for two spills of over 20,000 gallons of uranium solution from pipelines at a new in situ uranium mine in Wyoming. Uranerz’s spills at its Nichols Ranch mine are only two of many in Wyoming, and similar issues regularly occur at uranium facilities in Texas and Nebraska as well. In 2013, Cameco’s Smith Ranch-Highland facility, the nation’s largest uranium recovery facility, reported a 9,000 gallon spill of injection fluid. Earlier this year, Uranium One’s Willow Creek facility spilled 77,000 gallons of uranium recovery fluids. Spills can impact water resources as well as cause soil contamination.
Responding to the recent spills, Shannon Anderson of the Powder River Basin Resource Council, a citizens group in Wyoming that works on energy issues, states, “there must be more robust monitoring, regulation, and penalties to ensure that Wyoming’s precious natural resources are protected during uranium mining. The track record of the industry proves regulators need to be vigilant.” Toxic leaks and spills of radioactive solution are typical throughout the uranium industry, from in situ facilities in Wyoming that threaten groundwater resources to spills from uranium mines into the Grand Canyon’s side canyons to leaks from conventional uranium mills in Colorado and Utah.
Sharyn Cunningham of Colorado Citizens Against ToxicWaste says “at least Wyoming gave a fine; the State of Colorado failed to fine the Cotter Uranium Mill for six spills between November 2010 and September 2014,with the last spill estimated at 20,000 to 210,000 gallons.” The toxic keystone for the United States uranium industry is the White Mesa Uranium Mill, located in San Juan County, Utah. The White Mesa Mill receives in situ leaching waste from numerous in situ facilities in Wyoming.
“As a facility that processes highly dangerous radioactive waste from questionably operated mines, enforcement is essential to require that the White Mesa Mill operate in absolute compliance with federal laws intended to protect public and environmental health,” says Anne Mariah Tapp, Director of the Grand Canyon Trust’s Energy Program. “Unfortunately, the White Mesa Mill is out of compliance with state and federal laws designed to protect public and environmental health,” says Tapp. The Grand Canyon Trust sought to address the White Mesa Mill’s exceedance of radon emission standards and reclamation requirements by filing a citizen enforcement suit in federal district court in 2014 for numerous Clean Air Act violations.
The Chairman of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe –whose Tribal members live a mere 2 miles from the Mill – has called for its closure due to both groundwater and air contamination. Seemingly oblivious to community concerns and violations of federal law, state and federal regulators allow the White Mesa Mill to accept and process in situ waste from Wyoming’s leaking mines. “The cozy relationship between uranium regulators in the Intermountain West and the yellowcake industry is at the root of the toxic culture of spillsand lax enforcement. Leaks and unresolved contamination flow from decades of lax enforcement” says Travis Stills of Energy and Conservation Law.